A Flight Attendants FIRST Priority
 

Sorry if anyone takes this as an attack but I have heard it just one time too many. The FIRST priority of a flight attendant is to take care of the passengers, NOT safety.

How can I say this? Well, it comes down to numbers and a bit of common sense.

First, the numbers.

On a daily basis there are about (this is a rough guess) 25,000 airline flights. This works out to a little more than 9 million airline flights a year with some 200 million+ passengers. Now, on maybe 10 of those flights a day there is some sort of situation which requires a flight attendant to act in a direct manner to protect someones safety. (I don't count placing a food cart in an aisle as a direct action). So we have 99.9999999% of all flights in which the flight attendants do nothing in a direct manner to improve flight safety.

Second, the common sense.

FA's are there to take care of their employers customers. That is why there are galleys and food service. Without good paying passengers you would not have a job. Nobody in the airline business would have a job.

Last, we don't really care if you don't like your employer, if you lost your pension, if you have to work four turns a day. What we care about is getting good service with a smile. If you hate your job then please, please, quit for your sake and ours. There are people lined up 100 deep just waiting to take your place.

All true. ^

But doesn't everybody know this, anway? You are stating the obvious. As long as there isn't a safety-relevant "situation" developing on a flight, the FA's primary job is to be there for the pax' (and pilots') comfort. Arming and unarming doors, checking if seatbelts are fastened and making sure that seats are in an upright position and electronics switched off can't be an excuse to put the service aspect of the job on hold.

What is a safety-relevant "situation"?
Which part of the flight is safety-irrelevant?

Are you suggesting that the FA's should postpone arming doors and checking seatbelts if someone asks for a refill? It seems to me that this plan would only delay take offs and landings.

I think the suggestion is that the FA's primary job is passenger comfort, not safety. And we are tired of hearing it used as an excuse to do nothing.

I think what the OP is really objecting are FAs who think that their ONLY job is safety. "I'm here for your safety, I'm not here to serve you a glass of water".

Safety takes priority over comfort, that's pretty obvious. But when there are no doors to check and no emergencies to attend to then the FA's job is attend to their customers' comfort.

Slightly OT (but sort of relevant) - some years ago I encountered a cabin crew member who seemed to think that his company's profit come before both safety and comfort. I needed medical assistance. He said "I'll be with you in a minute" and carried on with what he was doing - handing out bar price lists!

If the airlines want us to believe that FAs are here ONLY for our safety (and they can do as much or as little as they want as far as service), then I suggest that they return to the practice of hiring only registered nurses as FAs, which is what they did on the early days of commercial passenger flights.

In any other business, an employee who took out their anger at management (however justified) over salary and benefit cuts on the customers would be canned- and they'd deserve it.

The FA's are on the flight because they are MANDATED to be there. The FAA does not require this because they want you to get your coffee before you've finished your dessert. They do so for safety reasons. Their #1 reason to be there is safety. Otherwise, you'd see discount airlines with no FA's.

Would they just guard the galley and sell drinks and stuff from behind a bar?
That would be odd.

The FAA mandates that they be there in the 0.00001% chance that something may happen. The airlines mandate that they take care of passengers needs the other 99.999999% of the time. That is what they are paid to do. They need to do it better. Many I have run into do a great job, many others think it is OK to read in front of customers.

You know, I'd like that. It works on Amtrak. And you wouldn't have the drink cart in your way when you wanted to go to the bathroom.

"The FAA mandates that they be there in the 0.00001% chance that something may happen. The airlines mandate that they take care of passengers needs the other 99.999999% of the time. That is what they are paid to do. They need to do it better. Many I have run into do a great job, many others think it is OK to read in front of customers."

Be that as it may, your post and original point do not say that. You said that their #1 priority is not safety. It is. An airline could choose to give you no water, drinks, food or service of any kind, but it would have to keep the same number of FA's there for safety regulation reasons.

Safety is their #1 priority. Airlines obviously have them provide a service to passengers and if your point is that they don't do a good enough job then you need another post. Their job #1 is safety. Not anyone's comfort.

Safety is #1. Period.

During my mothers F/A training, which lasted 7 weeks, they spend a total of 3 hours on catering to you people. The other 99.5% of the training delt with nothing but safety.

So stop whining about not getting your Diet Coke refilled every 10 minutes.

With all due respect, taking care of passengers kinda implies the requirement of getting them to the other end in one piece. :)

I've seen plenty of passengers take attitudes similar to yours, but when the sh*t hits the fan, they change their tune pretty darn quick.

A good FA is able to take care of passengers without compromising safety. Sadly, there are too few of those around nowadays (and I speak from the experience of having interviewed >1000 applicants for FA jobs in the last year).

Simple solution. Stop flying UAL. :D

In my job, I have things I'm supposed to get done. If I get them done, I do not consider myself free to do the equivalent of sitting in the galley doing Word Search puzzles. I go through my list of lower-priority items to see which of them needs attention, see if I can improve what I've already done, and then start volunteering for other things.

Similarly, if it appears there are no safety priorities to be addressed (i.e., 98% of the time), a good FA will look for opportunities to take care of the passengers in other ways.